Joy of Birdwatching

Looking at the checklist for Roger Road, Arizona, I was struck by the variety of water birds that appeared. That part of Arizona I expected to be dry. Many of the birds listed were what I would expect. Then there were different ducks, the Greater White-fronted Goose, Long- billed Dowitcher, Least Sandpiper listed as high counts. It turns out that this is the location of Aqua Caliente Park and Sweetwater Wetlands Park, major bird watching hot spots. High bird counts for Mount Lemmon were not surprisingly birds that like conifer forests, pine and oak woods as habitat. Some of these birds are the Yellow-eyed Junco, Pine Siskin and the Yellow-rumped Warbler. Mount Lemmon turns out to be the highest elevation in the Santa Catalina Mountains. It is known for hiking in the summer, skiing and is an amazing bird hot spot. Arizona sounds like a beautiful place to visit and a great bird watching destination. Such a diverse landscape.

Activity 1: At the local conservation area I spotted at least three distinct habitats. In the wooded area, I spotted a pileated woodpecker. In the pond, I spotted a mute swan. In the open area, I caught quick glimpses of small songbirds, but wasn’t able to distinguish them by their songs / calls. One day I’d love to be able to identify birds by their vocalizations. I woke up in a tent in Algonquin Park this summer and there was a choir outside of my tent. Would be great to identify them!   Activity 2: I noticed there were Turkey vultures at Mount Lemmon but not as Roger Road. I’m sure that’s just the tip of the iceberg though.

Activity 1: I decided to compare river mouth at the beach (aquatic habitat) and some bushes on the side of the road in the abandoned farm fields (scrub-shrub habitat). Aquatic habitat is full of visible and countable birds generally the size of a pigeon or bigger; waterfowl, wading birds and shore birds. With the help of a camera and Merlin ID application I could identify around 24 bird species. For example, comparing my picture of a bird in flight and pictures in Merlin app helped me figure out that my bird wasn’t a Franklin’s Gull, but an Andean Gull.  Both birds are white with gray wings and black heads and both of them can be found at that place. The tips of its wings gave it away. On the other hand, scrub-shrub habitat experience was frustrating. A lot of swooshing shadows of birds the size of a sparrow or smaller. Even a prepared list of most likely birds to see in the area didn’t help much. I couldn’t spot them and had to rely a lot on my hearing. The problem was I didn’t recognize the sounds I heard. The number of bird species I could identify in a scrub-shrub habitat was 9. There were a lot of flying insects and insect eating birds, like Blue and White Swallow. I even spotted a raptor (American Kestrel) sitting on the cables. I also managed to capture a couple of bush residents. Sinereous Conebill Slender-Billed Finch I need to do a better work on recognizing birds’ flight patterns and songs. Activity 2: I went as simple as ducks need lakes and woodpeckers need trees. Down House: A big variety of Woodpeckers (woods or parks); Sevenoaks: Huge variety of Waterfowl (lakes). Mt. Lemmon: Woodpeckers (woods or parks); Roger Road: Waterfowl (lakes).

Activity 1:  At our nearby pond I saw about 15 Welcome Swallows swooping low over the surface of the water, catching tin insects that were invisible to me.  Beside the pond there was a group of Australian Wood Ducks who appeared to be foraging in the grass.  In the pond itself there were several Eurasian Coots, who occasionally dived below the surface.  The reed bed at the end of the pond is also home to a large group of starlings.  They fly away in groups during the day to find food, then come back to the pond at sundown to roost for the night.

We live in proximity to woods and to shoreline.  Some woodland birds we have seen are chickadees, cardinals, blue jays and hummingbirds (!).  Some shorebirds we have seen are Canada geese, mallard ducks, and great blue herons.

Activity 2:  Exploring the species found in the two spots in Arizona (Roger Rd and Mt. Lemmon): It seemed that there were birds associated with aquatic environments at the Roger Rd. site, i.e. ducks, herons, egrets, teal; whereas I could not find a single one at the Mt. Lemmon site.  So Roger Rd. probably has some type of water habitat at the location, whereas Mt. Lemmon is probably devoid of much water habitat. On the other hand, it seemed that at Mt. Lemmon, I found more birds of prey, such as hawks, falcons, kestrel, merlin, osprey.  Although there were these types sighted at Roger Rd., it seemed that there was a greater diversity of these types sighted at Mt. Lemmon.

Activity 1: There is a forest preserve that I often visit. In the wooded areas I will see woodpeckers, indigo buntings, cedar waxwings, robins, and small hawks. There is also a pond where I find blue herons and egrets in the water and goldfinches and kingfishers flying around it for bugs. Another area they have is a marshy place where there is usually a green heron and sometimes a killdeer.

Activity 1: This is on the edge of a dam, with lots of reeds all around, the most prolific bird are the weavers, "Cape Weavers" & "Southern Masked Weavers". There are many weavers nests all along the edge of the water, hanging from the reeds. Apart from the weavers, there are" Yellow-billed ducks" and they forage for plants and invertebrates, other birds are the "Eurasian Moorhen" and the "Levaillant Cisticola" The Levaillant Cisticola is a tiny little bird with a high pitched chirp, it eats short-horned grasshoppers, beetles, weevils & flies . I have seen a pair of "White-faced Whistling-Ducks" which are uncommon in my area, a striking duck and apparently feeds at night, they dive down to obtain their food, mainly feed on underwater tubers, also molluscs and small aquatic animals. Vineyards - The "Cape Francolin" walks between the vine rows , the male can weigh up to 980g they eat invertebrates and fallen fruit, then the "Southern Fiscal", perches on the wire holding up the vines and then swoops down on insects or small vertebrates they then impale their prey on a thorn or piece of barbed wire and tear off pieces of flesh. Then there are two types of the waxbills, the "Common Waxbill" & "Swee Waxbill" tiny finches with short wings, normally in flocks found on the vines and on the ground around the vines, they feed on grass seeds and insects especially during the breeding season.

I happened to drive through a flat farmland earlier in the week, and some areas were flooded from recent rain.  There were many great blue herons and great egrets, which was an amazing sight.  I sometimes see them at lakes in my neighborhood but not that many at one time.  Also, I think there was a flock of turkey vultures at the edge of the water.  They were very far and it was difficult to make sure they were turkey vultures, but I think they were because I saw many turkey vultures circling in the sky prior to that.  They were just "hanging out" with some of them stretching their wings, together with other species, and I didn't know they would hang out by the water like that.  They almost looked like some kind of cormorants from far, but I don't think we have cormorants in my area.

Activity 1: I live in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. I usually drive almost 30 minutes to the nearby park, Lois Hole Centennial Provincial Park in St. Albert to watch birds. There are two different habitats in that big provincial park. The wetland area where there were mallards, ruddy ducks, and American Coots. The shrubs around the wetland area where there were Yellow Warblers, Black- Capped Chickadees, sparrow sp. and American Crows.

In comparing the birds observed in Down House and Seven Oak, I have come to the following conclusions as to the habitat type of each location; Down House- I believe this is a mixed woodland habitat. Many of the birds observed here rely on either a forest habitat or meadow habitat. The Cool Tit and Sparrow Hawk rely on woods for nesting and perching. The Red-Kite and the ring neck pheasant rely on open fields for foraging, nesting and hunting. Seven Oak- I believe this is a marshland with areas transitioning to meadow or heath. Many of the birds observed here rely on open water or marsh for food and shelter. For example the  Greylag Goose, Garganey and little Grebe. There are also birds observed here, like the turtle dove that require a meadow or heath habitat.

Looking at the Down house and Sevenoaks- Noticed the Great Spotted woodpecker there were more sightings at the Sevenoaks, and variety of birds more diverse. There are larger variety of water birds, birds that live in larger trees. The size of the birds different with larger breeds in the Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve.

Activity 1: I have recently been to a coastal habitat by the Pacific Ocean and a mixed forest habitat at 900 meters above sea level on the Caribbean slopes. In the coastal habitat, I saw: the Common Gallinule, Yellow-throated Toucans (Chestnut-mandibled), the Red-crowned and Hoffmann's Woodpecker hybrid, Scarlet Macaws, and Great Kiskadees. In the mixed forest habitat I saw: lots of different hummingbird species, tanager species, euphonia species, woodpecker species, raptor species, and some other species like the Rufous-tailed Jacamar, the Brown Jay, the Keel-billed Toucan, and the Red-bellied Pigeon. In both habitats I saw woodpeckers and flycatchers, and different toucan species, but each habitat had very different species.

For now I will comment on one of my favorite parks and compare it to an ocean or bay visit. My favorite relatively local park (30 min away) is interesting as it has a few mini-habitats within.  It borders a farm (across the street) which I believe grows wheat.  In the Fall I have seen many Canadian Geese there, even sometimes in the Summer.  The walking path goes through an area that has some tall grasses on one side and trees on the other.  In this area, I see mocking birds and sometimes blue birds (my favorite).    The path then goes in the woods where I was delighted to discover, for the first time, some brown thrashers.  Many birds as of yet unknown to me (due to a higher canopy) live there as well.  (I need to learn more calls.)   Of course, the typical birds of the area (cardinals, woodpeckers) hang out here too.  I believe I've heard wood thrushes here.  Here at this park I have also seen (and heard) mourning doves and occasionally red winged blackbirds.  At the edge of the woods, all types of sparrows flit about in the low grass, looking for food. Another favorite place to go is Ocean City, MD or nearby Cape Henlopen, Delaware.  Here I can see birds such as osprey,  piping plovers, sand pipers and sea gulls.  Not far from the ocean is bayside.  Here I can be treated to seeing herons and egrets.  This exercise sure has me wanting to go back to the beach and visit! If I see something else when I do visit either location I hope to report back!

  Activity #2 Roger Road has to be a very diverse ecosystem- It has to have trees for the woodpeckers, probably buildings or bridges for the swallows, pigeons, although they could live near open water, open water for the herons and Ibis, ducks, and other water and shore birds, and a certain amount of open sky for all the hawks and birds of the open  sky. Mt Lemmon, on the other hand, while a diverse ecosystem, is mainly woods for all of the thrushes, warbles, and flycatchers, and shrub scrub and breaks in the woods for the hawks and hunting birds of the sky-there is a mountain chickadee and a Canyon wren, so maybe there are mountains- a pine siskin, so maybe there are pines- an acorn woodpecker, so maybe there are oaks.

Activity #1 I've been birding at Lille park and at Leslie Science Center in Ann Arbor. There is a lot of overlap in birds- robins, cardinals, goldfinches, chickadees, but Lillie Park is near a pond, and a Great Blue Heron flew right at me. I was walking along a path and a robin started giving its alarm call, and a Great Blue Heron flew out of the rushes in the pond almost directly at me, then swerved and hid somewhere in another group of rushes further up the path. I went to look for it but could not find it. There are tons of swallows at Leslie Science Center- I don't know what kind they are, but they may be barn swallows, as they seem to dwell in the eaves of the buildings there. I also came across some woodpeckers- some flickers feeding on the ground and and in a tree. And I both heard and saw a large Hawk fly overhead. Both of those birds could have been sighted at Lillie Park, but the Heron definitely would not be at Leslie Science Center as it is near a woods. There is a pond in the woods, but I haven't birded there as yet.

I live in San Diego. The house we bought has many palm trees, but those aren't native to the region. Since taking this course, I've realized that birds don't like to hang out on and around the queen and pygmy date palms. BUT around the neighborhood I've noticed they find refuge in the Mexican palm trees. There I've seen Western Kingbirds and Lesser Mockingbirds. I love how this course has made me look up and pay attention. I'm also looking into replacing some of the shrubs on my property with more region-specific varieties.

Activity 1  We live in central Indiana, have a small pond near our back yard. Our neighborhood has many trees both evergreen and deciduous. It’s the end of July 2020 and the weather has been in the mid 80’s and 90’s for the last several weeks. Bird sightings are fewer but there is still some variety around the pond and at the feeder. Today I’ve seen

• Northern Cardinals
• Mallards
• Blue Heron
• House Sparrows
• American Crow
• Tree Swallow
• Juvenile Downy Woodpecker
• House Finches

Activity 1. I live by a lake in NE Kansas.  On my stroll today,  I saw red-winged black birds and eastern kingbirds living in trees and cat tails close to the water. I also spotted killdeer and great blue heron in the same location.  Further from the water I spied scissor-tailed flycatchers, Baltimore oriels,  American goldfinch in the trees and open grassland areas

Activity 1: 

• When I visit the urban park near my apartment, I can see:

Resident, endemic or exotic

• White-crowned Pigeon
• Venezuelan Troupial
• Shiny Cowbird
• Red Junglefowl
• Scaly-naped Pigeon
• Common Ground Dove
• White-winged Dove
• Zenaida Dove
• Mangrove Cuckoo
• Antillean Mango
• Puerto Rican Woodpecker
• White-winged Parakeet
• Blue-and-yellow Macaw
• Puerto Rican Flycatcher
• Gray Kingbird
• Pearly-eyed Thrasher
• Northern Mockingbird
• Red-legged Thrush
• Puerto Rican Spindalis
• Puerto Rican Oriole
• Greater Antillean Grackle
• Adelaide's Warbler
• Bananaquit
• Black-faced Grassquit
• Red-tailed Hawk
• American Kestrel
• Great Egret
• Bronze Mannikin

Migratory

• Osprey
• Black-whiskered Vireo
• Great Blue Heron
• White-eyed Vireo
• Northern Parula
• Prairie Warbler
• Antillean Nighthawk

 

• However, if I visit the coast nearby me, I can see:

Resident, endemic or exotic

• White-crowned Pigeon
• Spotted Sandpiper
• Common Ground Dove
• White-winged Dove
• Zenaida Dove
• White-winged Parakeet
• Gray Kingbird
• Pearly-eyed Thrasher
• Puerto Rican Spindalis
• Greater Antillean Grackle
• Bananaquit
• Red-tailed Hawk
• American Kestrel
• Brown Pelican
• Magnificent Frigatebird
•  Monk Parakeet
• House Sparrow
• Little Blue Heron
• Rock Pigeon
• Royal Tern
• Sandwich Tern

Migratory

• Osprey
• Great Blue Heron
• Peregrine Falcon
• Semipalmated Plover
• Herring Gull
• Lesser Black-backed Gull
• Ring-billed Gull

Activity 1: On my morning walks, there are three distinct habitats: suburban housing, a wooded area, and a park that has baseball fields and ponds. In the housing areas, there are lots of European starlings, American Robins, Crows, House Finches, and Blue Jays. I also sometimes see nuthatches. I've noticed as I get to the wooded area, I still see those same birds, but there is an increase in nuthatches. The pond areas there are plenty of Canada geese and Mallard ducks. Seasonally there are snow egrets and double-crested cormorants. I've also seen killdeer near the shorelines and red-winged blackbirds in the reeds.

ACTIVIDAD 1 Los lugares que visite fueron: LAGUNA DE ACHOCALLA, que se encuentra en las cercanías de la ciudad de La Paz, Bolivia En este ecosistema pude observar una cantidad importante de especies acuáticas como patos que nadan a lo largo del lago buscando comida a cada instante, garzas que se posan en algunos lugares de la laguna para poder pescar y alimentarse, chocas que se meten entre los matorrales para cuidar a sus crías, sobrevolando el lugar se puede observar vencejos que van comiendo a los pequeños insectos que se encuentran en el lugar. BOSQUECILLO DE AUQUISAMAÑA, que se un área protegida que se encuentra en la ciudad de La Paz. Bolivia En este ecosistema que pude observar aves como los gorriones que se perchan en los arbustos para comer las semillas, loros que se alimentan de las flores y frutos de las plantas que hay en el lugar, también observé picaflores que se alimentan de las flores nativas del lugar, palomas manchada es otra especie que se posa en los arboles mas altos del lugar, así también en los cerros de alrededor sobrevuelan las águilas y halconcillos. ACTIVIDAD 2 La diferencia que encontré entre estos dos lugares en Arizona: Roger Road y Mt. Lemmon, es que en el primer lugar hay aves acuáticas, debido a la presencia de cuerpos de agua en el lugar.

HABITATS Activity 1: Think of two different habitats near you where you might go birding. Maybe it’s a park and a more urban area, or a field and the edge of a pond. Visit each one and see if you notice different birds in each habitat. Tell us what you find in the discussion.   Mercer Slough Nature Park Trails-4:00 PM Birds Seen:   Stellers Jay, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Black-headed Grosbeak (immature) Habitat:  Forested, with small ponds and creeks-Slough Results:  Leafy trees got in the way.  Sun angle was bad.  We identified Stellers Jay and Chickadee by their calls.  We had to look up the Grosbeak in the book, which had no immature.  After coming home we looked in another book and made a sure identification.  All of these birds were in the leafy tops of the trees.   Sweyolocken Boat Launch-4:45 PM Birds Seen:  Bald Eagle, Common Crows Habitat:  Open water and Boat Marina—Lake Washington Results:  Easy to identify these two birds!  The eagle was clearly fishing as he was patrolling the waters off the boat docks.  The crows were checking out the garbage spots for any food.  We looked for cormorants, any ducks-didn’t see any!  Decided to try Newcastle Beach Park.   Newcastle Beach Park-10:30-11:30 AM Birds Seen:  Robins, Bald Eagle (adult and juvenile), Fox Sparrow, Chestnut-backed Chickadee Habitat:  Open water and Forested Shoreline-Lake Washington Results:  Had seen ducks and cormorants here before, and were optimistic.  We tried the shore first, and spotted the adult Bald Eagle, with the immature in hot pursuit (for food) over the water.  There was evidence of geese everywhere, but no geese in sight.  Not cormorants, ducks either-not one!  Then we went to the forested shoreline-we saw a sparrow, chickadee, and robins in the brush, but experienced lots more mosquitoes than birds! Conclusion:  Come any other season than summer-before leaves are out.  Birds also will not have migrated and will have more diversity.

I live in Anchorage, AK and am currently watching a bald eagle nest, common raven nest and red throated grebe nest.   I am close to a small lake.    I have red chested nuthatches and downy woodpeckers that frequent my feeders.   In the winter, I see more black capped chickadees. I'm still learning and hoping to learn more.

Activity #1: We often go walking in the nearby woods, which is a small forest in the middle of a big town near Toronto. Lately we've seen a lot of woodpeckers -- Red-bellied, Downy and Pileated. We also go to a large conservation area near us, which is mostly open meadows and fields, with some trees and a small lake. We often see Red-tailed Hawks and Song Sparrows there, and last time we saw an Orchard Oriole and an Osprey.   Activity #2: Sevenoaks has a lot more species of water birds than Down House, so I assume there are more lakes and ponds.